We wanted to know more, so we caught up
with three SVB clients in the UK who were featured in Deloitte’s ranking. We often
hear from our clients that recruiting and expansion are
challenging. In fact, 95 percent of UK executives
surveyed in SVB’s annual Startup Outlooksurvey said it’s challenging to
find people with the skills necessary to help grow their businesses—up 6
percentage points since 2013. To assist
clients with growth and expansion challenges, at home and abroad, SVB offers
insights and solutions gained from more than three decades of experience banking
innovation companies and our vibrant global network.

Here’s what our UK clients are saying:

Ismail Ahmed, Founder and CEO, WorldRemit:“As our business expanded internationally, one of our major challenges was obtaining licences from financial regulators in every country we send money from. The requirements differ greatly in complexity and scope from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To obtain appropriate licenses as a financial firm, you must build a deep understanding of local regulations, and be prepared to invest considerable time, resources and patience.”

Chris Blaxall, CFO, Performance Horizon: "As a high growth global SaaS company with a plan to double revenues again over the next 12 months, recruitment of top talent is a primary focus. We consider Silicon Valley Bank a great business partner given their technology expertise and market knowledge across the US, UK and Europe.”

Benedikt von Thuengen, CEO,
Speechmatics:“Recruiting is interesting, in
that we are getting some very good engineering talent but are really struggling
with finding strong commercial and marketing candidates, in particular with
international experience. We are very lucky that we are able to work with an
outstanding recruiter, Mike Burgoine, who helped with the recruitment for
DeepMind and SwiftKey. A great recruiter goes a long way when it comes to finding
strong candidates.”

How will the tech industry evolve in 2017, and how
will your business be impacted? To share your perspective, take SVB’s annual Startup Outlook Survey.